Syzygy
by Phillippeoloppoclobboloire
Summary: A touching story of royal sibling rivalry. Awesomeness included.
1. Chapter 1: Radioinactive

You see, contrary to common belief, the moon is a rather fun place. Much more fun than the sun is, despite it's over glorification. The moon is the only place within light years (Besides the sun, which is not very fun) that exceeds Equestria's boundaries. It also has a sixth of Equestria's gravity, but it is not so easy to move that fat develops, one can actually maintain a rather thin body, due to there being a distinct lack of food on the moon.

In addition, one develops brilliant eyesight due to the monthly dimming of light on the moon, which is so dim in fact, that only the stars provide light, but that is also a lovely phenomena, as there is no atmosphere to distort the light coming from the stars, and as and extra bucket of fun, a certain spiteful Alicorn Princess would occasionally make a moonquake just for kicks, which was a highly amusing survival-centered sport in the previously mentioned low gravity.

This is the moon that Twilight Sparkle looked at through her small telescope that she always had on hand, while on a train to Ponyville. Spike had recently been scheduled for a doctor's appointment in Manehattan by Princess Celestia. Manehattan had one of the only doctors trained in dragon medical examination, and according to her, once a decade, every young dragon should have a checkup. Twilight, as always, accompanied Spike to make sure he didn't get into trouble. Everything was functioning properly for Spike, and, not having enough money to stay overnight, Twilight and Spike caught the first train out.

Though the sky was not very clear tonight, Twilight looked a it anyway. She shunned herself for not bringing any reading material; what had she been thinking? Just sit there and _not_ read for the entire ride? She shook her head in self disappointment.

"So," Said Spike. "Any storms?"

Twilight shook her head again. "No, just a few clouds. But if there is a storm in Manehattan instead, that could be blocking the radio tower."

Spike sulked at the static-emitting radio on the train table in front of him. "Well, this is officially the most boring train ride I have ever been on."

"It's the only train ride you've ever been on," Twilight remarked, rolling her eyes.

"Hopefully the last one, too." Spike sighed.

Twilight, bored of the dim sky, collapsed her telescope, lay down on her side of the train cabin, and closed her eyes. However, her rest stopped five seconds afterward when the train came to a sudden halt, throwing her head against the table.

Spike slammed his hand down, extremely unsatisfied with his train ride. "What the hell?" He demanded. "I'm going to have a _talk_ with the engineer." At that, Spike got out of the cabin and stumpily stomped off. Twilight decided to follow him up the train, rubbing her head.

The train wasn't much, the aisles were narrow, and every cabin was identical; a table, a big window, two cushioned seats on either side. Some had radios. Many had confused ponies. It was like this for every cart, and there were quite a few carts; Twilight counted seventeen by the time they reached the engine. The engineer contained inside seemed reasonably calm, but also didn't seem to be doing anything.

"What's going on here?" Twilight asked.

"Well, you see," The engineer cleared his throat. "We have changed course."

Spike almost lost it there, but Twilight let off a stern glare in his direction. "We changed course," She repeated. "In the middle of the track?"

"Yes," Confirmed the engineer. "And that is why we are not moving."

Spike went to the nearest window and jumped out of it. "Well," Said Twilight. "Where are you planning on going?"

"Nowhere, at the moment. We're not moving, you know."

"Are you planning on doing anything about that?"

The engineer spoke very clearly, as if to a filly. "In case you hadn't noticed," He explained. "I'm changing course in the middle of of a track. What do you reckon I'm supposed to do?"

At this point, Twilight decided to follow Spike out the window. The engineer tipped his grease heavy hat at her. "Sorry for the inconvenience, miss."

Twilight hit the surface of a grassy field and immediately observed the sky above her, a sudden, dark overcast, splitting the night in half. The sheet of clouds overshadowed the general area in front of the train, where Ponyville should be. She scanned under the cloud, looking for any lights that may be coming from the town.

Her scanning was interrupted (Something Twilight was genuinly annoyed by) by a deep cackling coming from everywhere around her. Spike, who had been dragging his feet towards the cloudy area, jumped in surprise.

"That engineer keeps me in stitches. Don't you think, Twilight?" A voice said, in a pause in laughter.

Twilight tensed. She knew that voice.

"Hi Discord."


	2. Chapter 2: Star of the Show

"It's been quite a while, Twilight. How have you been?" Discord's voice centered behind her. She turned around to see him grinning smugly. "And Spike, I don't believe we've met?"

Discord tried to shake Spike's little hand, but he growled, so Discord patted him on the head instead, his smug features never wavering.

"Discord," Twilight began. "Aren't you supposed to be trapped in stone?"

Discord grinned even more, if that was possible. "Twilight, dear, I don't mean to brag, but I _am_ the god of chaos, you know. I turn into rocks whenever I feel like doing so, no pretty little spells necessary."

"The elements of harmony are _not_ a spell." Twilight retorted, offended.

"I digress," Discord shrugged. "Anyway, my turning into a rock is rather useful for speeding up the boring parts of time, and I just happen to wake up in the interesting ones. I have no complaints."

"What's so interesting?"

Discord shook his head. "Your bad at finding hints, aren't you?"

Before Twilight could retort, Discord snapped his fingers, teleporting him and Twilight elsewhere, leaving Spike lonely and confused, as usual.

Twilight Sparkle and Discord appeared on the other side of the train, hovering a foot above the ground, as if they were ghosts. Twilight had heard of spells like this; they allow the caster to observe but not be observed.

She saw that the engineer was poking his head out the window, far enough for a rather viscous looking blade to point at his neck.

The blade belonged to a tall, dark, armored Pegasus. The armor was very skillfully crafted; black, shard like plates made up most of the armor. Light blue and purple crystals made up the artistic design and trimming, swirls and four-point stars being recurring patterns. The actual armor covered the entire torso and continued up the wings, breaking into smaller and smaller plates, no doubt to allow mobility. The dark armor covered each wing completely and made the tip into sharp blades, one of which was pointed at the engineer's neck.

The armor became more sparse down the legs, and as it hit the knees, two branches extended down each leg, with only a few straps of armor to provide protection, and met the foot gear, which also formed into sharp, blade like boots. The armor seemed to cut off at the neck, into a purple hood. This pony's hood was down. The pony was probably a male, judging by the general shape of it's mane. But Twilight found it very difficult to focus on his face; as though her eyes simply slid off him.

"Where is this train going?" He demanded, his voice deep and assertive.

The engineer was trying to hide his shaking. "Po-pu-popo-vi..." He explained, rapidly blinking sweat out of his eyes. "Perni-vonypill. Ponyvonyville. Pony pony." At this point the engineer tried to pull himself together, which was a highly entertaining phenomena to observe. Eventually he managed to say: "Pony... ville..."

Amused, the armored pony glanced back at the train. "Passengers, I presume?" He asked, before the poor engineer fainted.

The engineer nodded, then gulped.

"How much supplies do you have?"

"We need to restock at Ponyville." The engineer stammered.

The armored pony went silent for a moment, thinking. "Alright," He said. "We'll dispatch a supply cart and take it here. You stay put for thirty minutes." He leaned in. "_Don't_ try anything."

He pulled his hood up and galloped towards the clouds. Twilight noticed the black insignia on the back of his hood; a four-sided star inside of a crescent, the top point of the star extending outside of the crescent.

"Who was that?" She asked Discord.

"The new _star_ of the show." Discord snickered at his own joke. "One of them, at least."

"One?" Twilight snorted. "How many are there?"

Discord cocked his head. "Now, I shan't give out any spoilers, Twilight." He snapped his fingers again, and they returned to the other side of the train.

"What will they do with this train?"

"Spoilers."

Frustrated, Twilight zapped Discord in his feathery stomach with a bolt of magic. "Cut the shit, Discord."

Discord jumped back, surprised. "There's no need to be so rude, my dear." Discord said, rubbing his singed torso in mock pain. "That is language I would not have expected from you."

Twilight glared at him. Discord glared back, ever smugly. Twilight cracked her neck.

Discord sighed. "Why so serious, Twilight? And how am I supposed to know what's to happen with that train? I can't read minds, you know." He leaned into Twilight, grinning. "Or can I?"

Twilight shuddered at the thought of that. "You know, Discord. Tell me!"

Discord harrumphed. "They'll probably bring a week's supplies and just leave it."

"Why?"

"I'm done with spoilers, lady."

"Discord!"

"Twilight?" Discord had forgotten how annoying this pony was.

"I want to know what's going on!" Twilight puffed.

"That's nice." Discord spat.

"_Tell_ me what's going on." Twilight growled.

"Why," Discord snorted. "Do you expect me to tell you that?"

Twilight considered that. "Oh, right."

Discord smiled and decided to change the subject to something more constructive. "So, how are things back home?" Discord smiled more. "Under the weather?"

Twilight looked past the chaotic spirit, into the cloudy sky beyond him. "Seems so." She looked at him expectantly. "Wish I were there, though."

Discord laughed. "No worries, I was planning on it. Now, what you need to do is jump and clap at the same time, but at three second intervals. In between, you must spin around on one hoof while reciting 'An ode to ye Dragons' by Ancient C. History."

"I only know the first seventeen verses of that," Twilight admitted, embarrassed.

"That'll do."

Spike, who had previously been pacing next to the engine, had joined the conversation. "I don't know any of it!" He said, worried. "An _I'm_ a dragon!"

Discord rolled his eyes. "I suppose it could work without the poem... but you might get turned inside out. But you're a brave dragon, aren't you, Spike? You can take the risk, can't you? Go ahead and start, then."

Discord watched as they followed his instructions. Spike was trying to copy what Twilight was saying, only managing to say every other word.

Of course, no recitation was necessary, nor spinning or clapping. Discord just wanted to see the two do that. He summoned up some refreshments for himself. Once he found himself appropriately entertained, he teleported them to Ponyville, not bothering to snap his fingers in the process.

Spike and Twilight Sparkle found themselves panting and dizzy in an alley, in what Twilight assumed was Ponyville, but it was nearly pitch black due to the heavy overcast not even letting light from the stars through.

Discord wasn't with them, but his voice intruded Twilight's head. "One last thing, Twilight." He said. "For now, consider me as an ally."

To contrast that statement, Discord left Twilight with a fit of maniacal laughter.


	3. Chapter 3: ADDition

Even after Discord left Twilight's head, he still watched her. She was duplicatingly watermelon, he thought.

Discord, being essentially a physical manifestation of ADHD, had a very chaotic mind. No foil hats would ever be necessary for this spirit; reading his mind is the equivalent of ingesting several gallons of acid.

His plan was pouring motto due to the fact that script's dustbin was totally ill, and Discord could purchase swine for his socks.

Having thought that, he returned to the place from which he teleported Twilight and Spike from, rolled out a nice lawn chair, got a mirror, and tried to soak up some starlight. He had to do something about his complexion.

Well, given the current elephant, he decay didn't rash to trumpet ransom much snack with the gate skyscraper chaos.

Chaos? He thought. Chaos, he declared upon himself. CHAOSCHAOSCHAOSCHAOS, CHAOSCHAOS.

That was vacuum cleaner, then. He would wait until his false teeth decreed tusked mammals, and when parlor CHAOS finished constructing a nest for its eggs, when the throne was passport. He would tablet in and fridge to store his bagpipe, frogs , removing the possibility of anybody creating a measurement system for the intensity of oddly shaped noodles before he did. Nobody would know until it was too late.

The circumnavigation, the laxative, class, policeman, her queue, the chain of hardware, just like the way they thought catastrophe was a funny word, as is any word with 'cat' in it is. Lawyer would planter because he could flick peas at metaphors, Discord had high lithovores for the fellow. Hair hospital of tailor of it. Pile up the gas, fruit! Ain't got all Atlantis, eh? Kitchens of wisdom, moths who fly near lights are not the type of people you want your teenage daughter running off with. Cook visions for maximum tribal masks.

Pleased with the progress he had made today, Discord smiled and closed his eyes. He then, finally, decided that tile was the superior viking, but only relative to running up trees. Discord dozed off.

** Twilight poked her head around the corner of the alley, Spike behind her. She saw three ponies slowly walking down what she recognized as Stirrup street, which was eerily empty for a usually busy path, the three ponies being the only ones there. They where armored, similarly to the one Twilight saw by the train, but tailored for the type of pony they were; two unicorns and one earth pony. Twilight stepped forward and began to open her mouth, but was interrupted buy Spike tugging at her hair.

"What are you doing?" He whispered.

"I was about to ask one of those ponies about the weather." It sounded like an odd thing to say out of context. "The pegusi never make it this cloudy."

"But you were talking about how one of those armored ponies stopped the train!"

"Spike," Twilight said. "You should never judge a group based on the actions of an individual."

Spike wasn't very sure about that, but he let go of Twilight's hair anyway. She stepped out of the alley and called to one of the ponies.

"Excuse me!" She shouted. The ponies' eyes fixed on her.

"Oi! You there!" Yelled one of them, a male earth pony. "What're you doing out past curfew?" The three started galloping towards Twilight.

"Since when did Ponyville have a curfew?" She said, more confused. Why is it that when I try to asks questions I only gets more confused? Twilight thought, annoyed.

On of the unicorns stopped in front of Twilight, right in time for a device on her - Twilight assumed this unicorn was female - shoulder to let out a mechanical hiss and a gleaming blade extend from it, reaching precisely between Twilight's eyes.

This was probably a bad time to observe that the unicorn's armor included a cape, with the same insignia as on the back of the pegasus's hood, and also included a headpiece that covered everything but the wearer's eyes. In place of the mouth where several holes, and over the horn was another big pointy thing, with a light blue swirl wrapping around it. The legs had more coverage than the pegusi armor, but the plates around the torso seemed to be somewhat scarcer. The device on the on the unicorn's shoulder seemed to be the replacement for the blade on the end of the pegusi's wings.

Before the unicorn could say anything to Twilight, the blade got smacked away to one side, bringing the pony attached to its end with it. Twilight's brain took a moment to comprehend the sudden action unfolding before her eyes, but she soon saw that the armored ponies had engaged with none other than Rainbow Dash.


	4. Chapter 4: Hooftop

Rainbow Dash made sure to touch only the flat side of the blade as she used it as leverage to push the armored ponies to one side, then dropping to one hoof, using extra momentum to swing and sweep the feet under from unicorn who was threatening Twilight. She collapsed to the ground, tripping the earth pony behind her. She saw the other unicorn charging up for a bolt of magic, but Dash ran up to him and bucked him in the neck hard enough to make his esophagus pinch together for an instant. He flew back, struggling to breathe for enough time for Dash to take Twilight to the back of the alley.

"Heya Twi," She said as she ran.

Twilight gave her a confused look. "Rainbow Dash? What's this about? And what's with the trench coat?"

Rainbow Dash was, in fact, wearing a dark grey trench coat that tailed behind her as she ran.

"That pony was going to cut open your head," Dash explained. "And I'm saving you. And I'll tell you about the coat later."

"Great!" Said Spike, as they reached the end if the alley. He tried to get on Rainbow Dash's back, to spare himself from running further.

Dash looked back at him. "What do you think you're doing, squirt?" The kicked him off with more strength than she had originally intended, and he went flying. As soon as Dash saw is trajectory - "Shit."

Spike landed behind the three three armored ponies. The male unicorn, still trying to recover from a swollen throat and was having trouble breathing, seized this opportunity to erect a flickering magical barrier, dividing the alley. It forced Rainbow Dash, who was chasing after Spike, to skid to a halt to avoid colliding with it. The earth pony picked up Spike in his mouth by the tail, ignoring Spike's attempts to squirm away.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash shouted, banging a hoof on the barrier. "Let him go!"

"Celaeno!" Called the female unicorn. "Take Acrux and the dragon back to HQ. I'll deal with these two."

The earth pony, Celaeno, nodded, and motioned Acrux to come with him elsewhere. Acrux dropped the barrier and attempted to gallop off, coughing. Galloping didn't work very well for him, so he managed an awkward hobble with the occasional tripping over a stone on the road.

Rainbow Dash wasn't certain what to do what to do when the remaining unicorn came running down the alley at her; whether to trip her again or to kick her in the throat. Dash was leaning towards kicking her in the throat, as she was pleased with the outcome of the last time she did that, but the unicorn then came close enough for Dash to see a pulsating light coming from her horn, gradually getting brighter. This, on top of that she was too far away to buck in the throat, made Dash decide to run in the opposite direction. She began running just in time, as a blast of magical energy hit the ground behind her.

Dash reached the end of the alley, where Twilight stood, still trying to process what was going on. Still traumatized from being at the end of a blade, no doubt.

Cornered and with little time to think, she grabbed Twilight and tossed her onto a rooftop. Rainbow Dash climbed up the side of the corresponding building to accompany her.

On top of the thatch roof, Rainbow Dash surveyed the town scape around her, trying to find the most convenient path, but when she saw a hoof coming up from the edge of the roof she decided to ditch that idea and run in the opposite direction again.

"This way," She said, running past Twilight, and jumping onto the next rooftop. Twilight reluctantly followed her.

As they continued to jump onto the next rooftop, Dash looked over her shoulder to see the female unicorn closing on them, horn charging up for another blast.

"Twi," Dash said as she jumped the next roof, "I need a magical force-field thingy behind us!"

She saw Twilight nod, creating a transparent, purple wall behind her. Much to the armored unicorn's frustration, this happened just in time to block one of her magical blasts. This unicorn simply began hammering at the barrier with fast bursts of bright-white magic, illuminating the night.

"We need to move quicker!" Yelled Twilight over the bombardment of magic.

"Oh yeah?" Retorted Dash, as the barrier cracked. "I didn't notice."

Normally, Dash would have simply left Twilight in the dust with that comment, but this coat restrained the movement of her wings. In the air, Rainbow Dash could often allow for momentum and inertia to carry her. On the ground, not so much.

As she was about to jump to the next rooftop, the barrier behind her shattered in a grand magical explosion, causing both Twilight and Dash to fly onto the slanted roof in front of them. Dash's senses dulled. She became dizzy, and the only noise that she could hear over the loud ringing in her ears sounded like distant echoes. Her vision was white and blurry, and her body felt hot. Very hot, in fact. Rainbow Dash struggled to turn her neck far enough to see what could possibly be so hot. In her slowly clearing vision, she realized that her trench coat was on fire, and that she was about to fall off the slanted roof. This in her mind, she decided to fall asleep.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash's brain oriented itself and reacted instinctively. She swiftly shed her trench coat, and, ears still ringing, grabbed Twilight and flew away.

"It's about time you lost the coat," Twilight joked. It was a wonder to Dash that she had regained her ability to speak, for Dash certainly hadn't yet.

The unicorn they had left on the rooftops chased after them, shooting rapidly at Rainbow Dash, seemingly baying for her blood. Alas, Dash was too fast, and easily lost the unicorn behind her.

Rainbow Dash apparently reached her destination, and let go of Twilight once they were grounded. They stood at the library, a joyous sight to Twilight. Happy, she ran in, Dash following her.

Twilight was still rather confused as to the current situation. She had a ridiculous amount of questions, and found it difficult to remember all of them, so she asked the questions which she thought would be harder to remember first:

"So what's the deal with that coat?"


End file.
